Pines senior makes fourth team All-State
MILWAUKEE - Northland Pines senior Lexi Smith finished her prep career this winter as one of the most prolific girls basketball players in the state's history.
That performance has her included among the top girls players in Wisconsin this winter.
Smith, who became the 12th player in the state's history to eclipse 2,000 career points this season, was selected to the fourth team for the Associated Press All-State girls basketball squad, which was released Thursday night.
"There are better overall players in the state, but none are better pure scorers," Mosinee coach Tom McCarty said of Smith after facing Pines in a pair of Great Northern Conference games this season. "Her numbers are even more impressive when you consider she gets every teams full attention. She was a match up nightmare. If we pressed them, she would bring the ball up. If we face-guarded her, she posted us up. If we backed off to give her the (outside shot), she hit the (3-poinoter). If we played zone, we had to constantly shift it because she was playing in different spots of their zone offense."
Smith, who is committed to Northern Michigan, was the fourth-leading scorer in the state this season as she averaged 25.4 points per game and scored a season-high 48 points against West Iron, Mich., in early January. The Great Northern Conference player of the year is one of five local players to be named to the all-state team. Loyal's Karsyn Rueth, Tri-County's Amber Baehman, Owen-Withee's Jennifer Wendler and Marshfield's Ema Fehrenbach were all honorable mention selections.
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Michigan State recruit Sidney Cooks was selected as the girls player of the year in Wisconsin after a stellar career Kenosha St. Joseph.
Cooks averaged 27.6 points and 13.8 rebounds as a senior, to go with 2.9 assists, 2.6 blocks and 1.8 steals. The 6-foot-4 Cooks finished her career with 1,909 points.
She scored nine points and went 3-of-5 from the field in 16 minutes in the McDonald’s All American Game on Wednesday in Chicago.
The AP coach of the year is Howards Grove coach Heidi Georgeff. She led the school to its first title in its second tournament appearance following a 44-43 victory over Aquinas.
Howards Grove (27-1) finished the season with a 26-game winning streak.
The remarkable run included a stretch of close games for a senior-laden team.
“We’re used to battling through some of these close games toward the end,” Georgeff said in the Sheboygan Press after the school won the title on March 11 in Ashwaubenon. “When it was close at the end, I was pretty confident things were going our way.”
Howards Grove defeated Cooks and St. Joseph 52-50 in a sectional final on March 4. St. Joseph was the Division 4 state runner-up in Cooks’ junior season.
Otherwise, Cooks’ prep career was a smashing success, with St. Joseph going 83-13 during her four years.
“She can handle the ball, she can shoot 3s, she posts, she has a number of moves, she can block shots, honestly, there’s nothing she can’t do,” coach Lynell Collins said. “She stuffs the stats line, but she’s an unselfish player, too. She gets stats within the framework of her team.”
Rueth, a senior standout, averaged 15.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game as Loyal reached the WIAA state tournament for the first time in the program's history and captured the Division 5 state championship.
Baehman was the Central Wisconsin Conference-10 player of the year and averaged 21 points, 12.7 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game in her junior season as the Penguins reached the Division 5 sectional semifinals.
Wendler, a sophomore for Owen-Withee, was the co-player of the Cloverbelt Conference East Division with Rueth. Wendler averaged 23.8 points and 12.3 rebounds per game and had a season-high 47-point performance against Greenwood on Feb. 9
Fehrenbach was the Wisconsin Valley Conference player of the year in her senior season with the Tigers. Fehrenbach averaged 17.7 points per game this winter.
ASSOCIATED PRESS ALL-STATE GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM
FIRST TEAM
*Sidney Cooks, 6-4 senior center, Kenosha St. Joseph (unanimous); *Estella Moschkau, 6-2, senior, Madison Edgewood (unanimous); Myriama Smith-Traore, 6-2, senior, Whitewater; Sydney Levy, 5-8, junior, Appleton North ; Sydnee Roby, 6-4, soph., Milwaukee King.
SECOND TEAM
Kenzie Schmitz, 5-10, sr., Germantown; Alex Luehring, 6-2, sr., Verona; Shemera Williams, 5-9, soph., Milwaukee Academy of Science; Katie Van Scyoc, 6-1, sr., Lourdes Academy; Cassidy Trotter, 5-8, sr., Beaver Dam.
THIRD TEAM
Sydney Hilliard, 5-9, soph., Monroe ; Erin Howard, 6-1, junior, Madison East; Tayla Stuttley, 5-10, senior, Onalaska; Lexi Donarski, 5-10, fr., La Crosse Aquinas; MacKenzie Schill, 5-8, sr., Pewaukee.
FOURTH TEAM
Janelle Shiffler, 5-11 sr., Union Grove; McKenna Warnock, 6-1, soph., Monona Grove; Lexi Smith, 5-10, sr., Northland Pines; Lizzie Miller, 5-7, sr., G, De Pere; Grace Beyer, 5-8, soph., G, Mukwonago
Player of the year: Sidney Cooks, Kenosha St. Joseph. (Also nominated Estella Moschkau, Madison Edgewood.
Coach of the year: Heidi Georgeff, Howards Grove
HONORABLE MENTION
Chloe Marotta, jr., Homestead; Bailey Eichner, sr., Cudahy; Macy Williams, sr., Sussex Hamilton; Tishara Morehouse, jr., Milwaukee King; Breahna Butler, sr., Milwaukee Languages; Caroline Busch, sr., Brookfield Central; Julia Hintz, soph., New Berlin Eisenhower; Bria Lemirande, sr., Middleton; Jayda Jansen, jr., Sun Prairie; Elizabeth Lutz, sr., Marshall; Julia Hartwig, soph., Janesville Parker; Brianna Leahy, jr., Shullsburg; Karsyn Rueth, sr., Loyal; Amber Baehman, jr., Tri-County; Jennifer Wendler, soph., Owen-Withee; Ema Fehrenbach, sr., Marshfield; Caitlyn Hiller, sr., Mercer; Madessa Collins, jr., La Crosse Aquinas; Chelsea Olson, sr., Westby; Brooklyn Paulson, jr., Holmen; Erika Simmons, soph., Melrose-Mindoro; Emma Wittmershaus, jr., Bangor; Gwen Streblow, sr., Plymouth; Samantha Yancy, sr., Howards Grove; Ally Gietzel, jr., Fond du Lac; Caitlyn Tipton, sr., Laconia; Alexis Rolph, soph., Oshkosh Lourdes.; Tori Martell, sr., Somerset; Lexi Hanley, sr., Chippewa Falls; Hannah Anderson, sr., Eau Claire Regis; Ambree Schlosser, sr., Durand; Madelyn Neff, jr., Hayward; Kari Brekke, 5-6, jr., Appleton North; Liz Edinger, 5-6, sr., West De Pere; Shay Frederick, 6-1, sr., Hortonville; Brooke Geier, 5-8, sr., Kewaunee; Makenna Haase, 6-1, sr., Freedom; Danielle Nennig, 5-11, sr., Wrightstown; Emily Kieck, sr., Baraboo; Brooklyn Liegel, sr., Richland Center; Katie Meriggioli, sr., Madison Edgewood; Erin Nyhus, jr., Brodhead; Marissa Robson, sr., Stoughton; Rebekah Schumacher, sr., Whitewater; Sydney Staver, sr., Mineral Point.